Groups blame rising crime on poor values, others

Poor value system, poor child upbringing, lack of transparency and accountability have been identified as the major causes of the prevailing crimes in Nigeria.
Non Government Organisations, NGOs, Clean Foundation and the Agape Foundation disclosed this in Abakaliki during a joint workshop they organised for rural dwellers.
In his remarks at the workshop, the Program officer of Clean Foundation Ifeanyi Anyanwu,noted that there was a drop in the value system resulting to celebration of negative trends rather than forbiding them in the society.
According to Anyanwu, “society has failed us, in that people are now respected because of the material things in their possession rather than age,or good things they can offer to the society.”
He regretted that the trend has also affected the choice of leaders that were being elected into political offices, saying a situation where people with criminal records are elected to represent the society, perhaps because of the little token they could use to buy the conscience of the people, was an aberration.
He further identified lack of transparency and accountability as the pillar of corruption and called for a change of attitude for a better Nigeria.
On his part, Pastor Gabriel Odo, the Executive Director of Agape Foundation, who harped on gender and security management, identified armed robbery, gender violence, kidnapping, verbal threats, harassment and collateral damage as threats to the society.
He noted that women were vulnerable to crime because of their gender as criminals and deviants consider them as easy target due to their physiology.
According to him, women don’t talk about their concerns and threats very openly for the fear of being stigmatised or considered ‘less professional’ than their male counterparts”, he said.